Murray's Ranking

Well Andy has preserved his world ranking points from last year (720), anymore from AO is a bonus. He will be going all out to beat Federer, if he does that will be 1200 points, a net increase of 480 points. And if he were to go on and win the AO (and I hope he does!) that would be 2000 points, a net gain of 1280 points for 9280 total.

Re the points system Nalbandian may I suggest that you go to live-tennis.eu where there are tables showing how many points a player has accumulated in the last 12 months and how many points he might gain if he wins the next match and if he wins the tournament Also look at tennis scoring in Wickepedia Read that 15 times ,give up and go back to the website I've suggested Remember that men in particular like a very complicated method of scoring in their sports Also note that Murray has just covered his points gained from getting into the semifinal last year so if he wins tomorrow he will gain 480 new points and more if he wins Its not easy to follow good luck

I fully expect Federer to defend his Rotterdam points. Dubai will be interesting. You would think that Djokovic would win there, with no Murray to thwart him this year, but Federer recorded some impressive wins against him last year.

Indian Wells is Murray's big chance to gain, he simply can't afford a third successive second round exit there. Miami is on the other foot, with Federer's chance to pick up some points.

How exactly does the ranking system work? If a player defends a title they won the previous year, does that mean someone like Djokovic get no additional points for winning it the second or in this case consecutive time?

Will Andy only be awarded the additional points for going one step further than last time??

How exactly does the ranking system work? If a player defends a title they won the previous year, does that mean someone like Djokovic get no additional points for winning it the second or in this case consecutive time?

Will Andy only be awarded the additional points for going one step further than last time??

First question - no.Second question - yes.

Basically each tournament is worth so many points. Slams are 2000, Masters 1000, 500's are, well, 500 and likewise 250 are 250. That's for the winner - the points are normally halved as you go down the rounds (although the final is about 60% of winning and semi-finals about another 60% again). Hard to explain - have a look here:

Those points come off after 12 months. So assuming there are no changes to the schedule, the player will lose those points after the tournament is played the following year. Hence the term 'defending points' - players are defending the points they won in the tournament the previous year. If they reach the same stage, they have defended their points (like Djokovic). If they go further, they gain points (like Murray). If they don't reach the same stage, they lose points.

There's also a few complicated rules as to which tournaments actually count toward ranking. All Slams and 8 of the 9 Masters do (Monte Carlo is the exception). Then it's best six results from Monte Carlo, 500 and 250 events.

I've probably gone into way more depth than you wanted. It's quite simple when you understand it, at least the core of the ranking system is, but difficult to explain. And I'm not great at explaining things, so that doesn't help.

Basically each tournament is worth so many points. Slams are 2000, Masters 1000, 500's are, well, 500 and likewise 250 are 250. That's for the winner - the points are normally halved as you go down the rounds (although the final is about 60% of winning and semi-finals about another 60% again). Hard to explain - have a look here:

Those points come off after 12 months. So assuming there are no changes to the schedule, the player will lose those points after the tournament is played the following year. Hence the term 'defending points' - players are defending the points they won in the tournament the previous year. If they reach the same stage, they have defended their points (like Djokovic). If they go further, they gain points (like Murray). If they don't reach the same stage, they lose points.

There's also a few complicated rules as to which tournaments actually count toward ranking. All Slams and 8 of the 9 Masters do (Monte Carlo is the exception). Then it's best six results from Monte Carlo, 500 and 250 events.

I've probably gone into way more depth than you wanted. It's quite simple when you understand it, at least the core of the ranking system is, but difficult to explain. And I'm not great at explaining things, so that doesn't help.

No that's great, thank you! So basically they wipe the slate clean at the end of each tournemant and add on the new earned points- so you want to match or do better than your last years performance in order to have same amount of points or more added after last years are removed??

I suppose that means Andy's Gold medal points also come off this Sunmer?? That's really rubbish given there's literally no way for him to earn them back this year.

Right I'm off to calculate how many points Andy's defending at Miami and Indian Wells.

So basically they wipe the slate clean at the end of each tournemant and add on the new earned points

In theory, yes. In reality the schedule is often changed and occasionally some tournaments are moved (like Bucharest last year, or Madrid back in 2009 - it used to be a hard-court Masters in October). So some years the points will come off the week in advance, before the players get the chance to earn them back again the week after. If that makes sense.

so you want to match or do better than your last years performance in order to have same amount of points or more added after last years are removed??

Yep. Failing to get to the same stage means you will end up losing ranking points. Hence how players can often climb the rankings without even playing. So every tournament is either seen as a place to gain ground (if had a poor result the previous year, or didn't play), or try not to lose ground (a good result the previous year that will be hard or impossible to beat - ie Djokovic this week.)

Right I'm off to calculate how many points Andy's defending at Miami and Indian Wells.

The ATP site is really good for that. Take a look at a player's Playing Activity - it lists all the tournaments he's played, who he faced, and how many ranking points he picked up (as well as his ranking at that time).

I suppose that means Andy's Gold medal points also come off this Sunmer?? That's really rubbish given there's literally no way for him to earn them back this year.

It is a bit rubbish, but it was apparently one of the reasons why the Olympics didn't award that many points compared with its status.

Andy will lose points, but so many of the players that did well at the Olympics ended up withdrawing from the next tournament, it may even itself up anyway. Andy did make it to Canada, but withdrew after the second round, so he's likely to gain points there next year.